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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Time

This post is geared mostly towards my fellow authors who also have full-time jobs. Time management is currently one of the biggest issues in my life, and I wonder how it affects others' writing.

A typical week:

Monday to Friday: work at school for 12+ hours/day. Come home do lesson plans/grading, gym, watch a show of TV or spend time with my fiancee and crash.

Saturday: shop, cook for the week, wedding planning

Sunday: church, cleaning, gym, blog.

So in all that time, where's my time to write? I've been working on edits in any "free time" I can grab. I personally haven't written a single sentence of my next book since summer vacation 2013.

And now we're thinking about kids after the wedding....

For February in particular, my drama program is presenting three separate productions in the next three weeks, while working on our next huge show in March.

How do others do it? Post below if you're a writer in a similar spot. I wish I had time, not just for marketing, blogging, spreading the word, etc- but for honest-to-goodness pure creative drafting. I know what I want to be writing, I just have no time to get there until the next summer break? How about you?

3 comments:

Lord have mercy, Christopher! You already need to clone yourself just to get what you're getting done now. The only thing I can think of of is to sneak in an hour on Sat and Sun to write.

I'm retired so I don't have the busy schedule outside of my home as you do. However, I still find myself unable to block out time to write. I spend a lot of time trying to market and get on top of all that.Marketing in itself is a full time effort! I also have three editing projects that I'm doing for others, plus trying to get some reviewing done (music and books). And I help a disabled friend in another city and have been doing a lot of pet/house sitting since before Thanksgiving.....Uhhh no wonder I don't have time to write...

I think what I need to do is organize my day's work around peak energy periods and then block of specific days to work on specific projects. Perhaps that will help.

Janie Franz, author of the Bowdancer Saga and the Ruins trilogyEmpowered Women Characters

I don't know how you do all you do, Chris. I suppose it helps that you're younger. Excited for you about the wedding.They are such fun. But kids after will cut into your time for sure. I like Janie's idea above about an hour on Saturday and Sunday. I don't have near the other activities you do, and yesterday was the first day since the beginning of November I've worked on my WIP. I finished edits on a second book for MIU and submitted a third just the other day, too. We all just do the best we can at any particular moment. The good thing for you is you have lots of years ahead of you. Eventually, you won't have s many pulls on your time. Hang in there. You're doing great.

Since we relocated to Canada, I haven't worked outside the home, but I'm pretty busy with my kids (ranging in age from 1 to 15). In the short pockets of time I carve out for "work", I'm busy with edits and marketing. I too am craving that pure creative drafting, and though I have ideas running through my head, I can't get back to my WIP. I know Kate DiCamillo (a bestselling MG author) once said she writes two pages a day, and though it sounds like a little, at the end of the year, you have a book. It seems like you're overloaded with all your other creative work though, so honestly, is it worth the extra pressure? Perhaps its best not to even dwell on it at the moment. Good luck with it all!